All about Rashida Tlaib

1. All about Rashida Tlaib

2. Who is Rashida Tlaib? • Rashida Tlaib is the congresswoman for Michigan’s 13th district. In 2019, when she started her first term in the U.S. House, she was the first Palestinian American woman and one of the first two Muslim women to do so. Rashida is a team member of the Democratic Socialists of America and is part of “The Squad” with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley, who are also progressive congresswomen. Before she was elected to Congress, she worked as a lawyer and served three terms as a state representative in Michigan.

3. Early Life • Rashida HarbiElabed was born in Detroit, Michigan on July 24, 1976. This is where Tlaib grew up. She is the oldest of 14 children whose parents came from Palestine as refugees. Her family spoke Arabic at home, and when she was young, she was the family translator. She went to Southwestern High School and then Wayne State University. She was the first women in her family to graduate from both high school and college.

4. Start Work for ACCESS • Tlaib started working for ACCESS, the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, after she graduated from the Cooley Law School at Western Michigan University. • Read Also: Ila kreischer

5. Early Years in Politics • In 2004, Tlaib began working as an intern for a state representative in Michigan. In 2007, she joined the staff of the same representative. She became the first Muslim woman to be elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2008,. As a state legislator, she did things like fight against pollution that hurt the people she represented. She was in office for three terms, from 2009 to 2014, before she could no longer run. Tlaib ran for the Michigan Senate in 2014, but she didn’t win.

6. Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice • Rashida Tlaib worked for the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice after her time in the state legislature was over. There, she worked on things like fighting against bigotry and speaking out against tax breaks for rich people and businesses.

7. Career in Congress • In 2018, Tlaib achieve the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s 13th district by 900 votes in a primary race. The region is one of the least fortunate in the nation and has a ton of Democrats. It includes parts of Detroit and the towns around it. It was taken care of by John Conyers Jr. for more than 50 years. In the general election of 2018, Tlaib didn’t have any opponents, so she got 88.7% of the vote. She was the first Palestinian-American woman to be elected to Congress because of her win.

8. Democratic Socialists of America • Tlaib is a team member of the Democratic Socialists of America. She supports progressive goals like a $15 minimum wage, Medicare for All, immigration reform, and college that doesn’t cost anything out of pocket. She has pushed for more civil rights laws at the federal level, marched against police brutality, and spoken out against how corporate money affects politics. Tlaib’s mentor is Rep. Barbara Lee of California, who is also a progressive like Tlaib.

9. Plan to Visit Village • Tlaib had planned to visit her grandmother, who is 90 years old and lives in a small village in the West Bank, while she was in Israel. After her visit was cancelled, she first asked for permission to see her family for humanitarian reasons. This was granted. But Israel told her she couldn’t go if she “promoted boycotts against Israel,” so Tlaib decided not to go. She said in a tweet, “Visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions goes against everything I believe in, which is fighting against racism, oppression, and injustice.”

10. Personal Life • In 1998, Tlaib married Fayez Tlaib. Before they split up in 2015, they had two sons, Adam and Yousif.